5 killed in North Las Vegas shootings; gunman dies by suicide
A 47-year-old man suspected in the shooting deaths of five people in North Las Vegas late Monday killed himself when confronted by officers Tuesday, police said.
The North Las Vegas Police Department said two women, one in her 40s and one in her 50s, were found shot to death just after 10 p.m. Monday in an apartment in the 300 block of Casa Norte Drive. A 13-year-old girl found in the apartment with an apparent gunshot wound was taken to University Medical Center in critical condition.
Inside a nearby apartment, investigators later found three additional victims: two women and a man, all in their 20s, police said.
Authorities identified Eric Adams as the suspect in the killings, saying in a Tuesday morning news release that he “has been located and is no longer a threat to the community.”
Late Tuesday morning, two coroner vans and several police vehicles, including a mobile command center van, were parked at Craig Ranch Villas, 370 Casa Norte Drive. Police had closed a section of the complex with crime scene tape.
Just after 10 a.m., police said, North Las Vegas detectives and officers from the Criminal Apprehension Team received information that Adams was at a business in the 1500 block of East Lake Mead Boulevard.
Police said they found Adams with a firearm in the 1600 block of Dwayne Stedman Avenue, and he fled into the backyard of a nearby residence.
“Officers began giving Adams verbal commands to drop the firearm, however Adams ignored those commands and died by suicide,” police said.
Police at one point said Adams was 57, but later corrected the error.
The Metropolitan Police Department Force Investigation Team is assisting and conducting its own internal investigation, according to North Las Vegas police.
‘It’s a decent neighborhood’
Taylor Holmes pulled into the entrance of Craig Ranch Villas around 11 a.m., past rainbow-colored signs welcoming residents home, wondering what had gone on behind the crime scene tape to her left.
Holmes said she grew up in Compton, California, so devastating shootings are not new to her. But the 47-year-old, who has lived in the apartment complex for about three years, said she never thought a shooting of this scale would take place in the North Las Vegas neighborhood.
“It’s a decent neighborhood,” Holmes said. “But you can’t really control anybody’s actions. For five people to be un-alive, that’s crazy.”
Complex resident Raymond Baca said shootings, stabbings and car burglaries have occurred at the villas before. The 37-year-old said he wants to move out but can’t afford to.
Around 12:30 p.m., Baca was having trouble getting to his apartment because of the tape around the crime scene, he said.
“It’s senseless,” Baca said about the death toll. “I don’t understand.”
Tanisia Fontenette was discussing the shootings with other complex residents, including children, around 1 p.m. near the complex’s pool.
The 48-year-old said she wasn’t feeling well after waking up, walking out her door and seeing vans from the coroner’s office.
“It’s very sad to have all of these people die at the hands of one person, and we still don’t know why,” she said.
Inhabitants of a complex like Craig Ranch Villas are closed off in a “little bubble,” Fontenette said.
“I don’t know what we can do as a community to make it safer for each other,” she said, adding that residents could perhaps try to be more aware of the behavior and emotions of those they live around.
If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a loved one or friend, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org.
Contact Peter Breen at pbreen@reviewjournal.com. Review-Journal digital content producer Mark Davis contributed to this report.
